The charm of the short story is in its brevity. There is no time for unnecessary characters, overdrawn exposition. Things happen. An action. a reaction. Bada-bing. Michael Frayn described it best in “Noises Off.” “Get the sardines on. Get the sardines off. That’s life, that’s theater, that’s art,” he wrote
A lot of Neil Simon plays, whether comedies or not, follow that pattern, like “The Good Doctor,” a bright and mostly effective play based on eight short stories by Anton Chekhov, the tone ranging from comic to whimsical. Mostly, it crackles pleasantly, like a bowl of Rice Krispies. Produced by the Avalon Theatre Company in its Crestwood space, it opened over the weekend and will run through next Sunday.
A solid five-person cast, working nicely together and showing excellent timing under Jim Anthony’s well-paced direction, moves things along at a fine pace. The cast includes Larry Mabrey, Avalon’s producing artistic director; Dean Christopher, in a welcome return to the stage after eight years as a cabaret performer; the brisk and delightful Judi Mann; and two younger players, Austin Pierce and Theresa Hermann.
Pierce has one of the evening’s high moments, “The Drowned Man,” in which he tries to convince Mabrey to pay him as he leaps off a bridge. He also shines as a shy teenager in “The Arrangement,” where Mabrey, as his father, bargains with Hermann over the price of a sexual initiation as a birthday present.
Christopher and Mann give a burlesque, slapstick touch to “The Defenseless Creature,” (that’s Mann), and Christopher and Mabrey do the same thing with a meeting in a dentist’s office. Mann is excellent with Hermann where she is an employer who steals the cowed young woman blind. Then five actors play on a minimal set by Igor Karash, and Soon V. Martin’s costumes help establish proper moods.
“The Good Doctor” is not Simon at his best; some of the stories are lack some of the special Simon snap, others feel old and tired. But he’s certainly not at his worst, and Simon at half speed is better than most writers at the top of their game. Besides, there may be an extenuating factor for the author, like other things on his mind. After all, Simon met St. Louis native Marsha Mason, who was in the original cast, and they were were married during the run of the play.
The Good Doctor, by Neil Simon, produced by the Avalon Theater Company in its Crestwood theater, through Nov. 21.
—Joe